TUESDAY, Feb. 12 (HealthScoutNews)
-- Imagine being able to transform unwanted body fat into bone or cartilage
tissue that could repair your body.

Researchers at Duke University Medical
Center have achieved this Cinderella effect -- at least in a test tube.
They grew functioning cartilage, bone and fat cells from adult stem cells
taken from apparently useless fat deposits in an area called the "fat pad"
behind the kneecap. This is a potential source of stem cells that avoids
the controversy surrounding the use of embryonic stem cells, the scientists
say.

Last year, the same research team
turned human fat cells salvaged from liposuctions into functioning cartilage
cells in mice. Those cells functioned for 12 weeks.

This time around, the scientists
went a few steps further.

"We've been able to show [fat pad]
cells can be transformed into several different cell types," says Farshid
Guilak, senior author of the study and director of orthopedic research
at Duke University Medical Center.

Paul R. Sanberg, director of the
Center for Aging and Brain Repair at the University of South Florida College
of Medicine, says "this is the first study to use the adipose tissue in
the knee area, with a concept of creating cartilage to help that knee."

It's also the first time anyone has
been able to demonstrate the changes in the fat-derived cells take place
at both the genetic and protein levels, says Guilak.

The results were presented this week
at the annual meeting of the Orthopaedic Research Society in Dallas.

"Given the enormous pressure being
put on embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells are taking on a more and
more important role," says Dr. Wise Young, director of the W.M. Keck Center
for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University.

"If adult stem cells prove to be
as potent and as efficacious as embryonic stem cells, they will be a cheaper
and safer source of stem cells for therapy," he adds.

Most experts believe that stem-cell
therapies could help thousands or even millions of people with disorders
ranging from diabetes to Alzheimer's disease to multiple sclerosis, Young
says.

The fat pad behind the kneecap intrigued
the Duke researchers because it has no apparent purpose, and it's different
from fat found elsewhere in the body. Although the tissue has no known
function, after injury or surgery, it sometimes turns into fibrous tissues,
causing the knee to contract and become painful, thus limiting motion.
Often, more surgery is required to correct the condition.

"Part of our rationale was, 'What
is it about these cells that leads to fibrosis problems in the knee?' "
Guilak says. "We're trying to take advantage of that, control the differentiation
and have them grow the way we want them to."

The researchers examined fat cells
from fat pad tissue that had been removed from patients undergoing total
knee replacement surgery. The cells were treated with a series of enzymes
and then separated. They were then treated with a combination of steroids
and growth factors.

Sure enough, the researchers were
able to coax the growth of fat, bone and cartilage cells.

Although humans will not directly
benefit from the research for several years, the potential is exciting,
researchers say.

"It will likely be at least five
years before we can apply this technology to bone and cartilage regeneration.
However, for regenerating fat in reconstructive or cosmetic surgery, a
clinical application could be possible even sooner," says Guilak. "There
are tremendous applications for these cells, if all of this holds out."

Most likely, the first application
of this tissue-engineering technology will be to remove fat pad cells from
a person, grow them into the cells that person needs, then re-implant them
to repair damaged cartilage or bone.

In the future, there may be even
more applications.

"Eventually, we'll have the technology
to have stem-cell banks," says Guilak. These banks would type-match tissues,
and transfer them to another person when needed.

The next step, though, is to try
to grow the cells into actual tissues, and implant them in animals to heal
a cartilage defect or a broken bone.

It remains to be seen if new discoveries
about adult stem cells will fuel or cool the debate about cloning and embryonic
stem cells. If so, the real significance of this and related findings could
be how they affect academic freedom.

"I would rank [these issues] amongst
the top 10 scientific issues of the last 100 years because at stake here
is scientific freedom," Young says.